Competitor Jones

"The underwriting community wilted and
reeled," reported the sympathetic New York Herald Tribune in telling
how Federal Loan Administrator Jesse Jones last week offered to bid for
public utility bond issues. "Investment bankers . . . saw the RFC as a
potential competitor who could fix terms and rates, and put them
entirely out of business."

On second thought, Jesse's plan struck Wall Street as much less
alarming. What he had really offered was to backstop SEC with RFC cash
if the former gets into trouble enforcing its new competitive bidding
rule....